I made a fool of myself for the Bike Works annual auction last month, and it was totally worth it.

I look forward to volunteering for the auction every year. There’s just so much positive energy, and youth enrolled in Bike Works programs get up on stage and tell the most inspiring stories about what biking and having access to such empowering programs means for their lives.

Bike Works is really something special.

This year’s auction raised $145,000, all money well spent. It was also Liz Nixon’s last year leading the big fundraising effort as she moves on to other adventures. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Liz several times over the years, and she’s been a real asset to growing Bike Works’ reach.

You can check out photos from the event in this Flickr gallery (includes photos of yours truly with some unfortunate facial hair).

By the way, if you have some quality bike fixing skills, the Bike Works shop is currently hiring.

Bike Works has a big youth empowerment focus, but there are also opportunities for adults. They also can always use more volunteers for their bike repair parties on Thursdays and Sundays. And if you want to get more comfortable with a wrench, it’s not too late to register for their adult bike repair class that starts April 7.

Bike Works is a pretty special thing to be part of. Even when hosting an auction, you get the feeling that things at Bike Works are just different than other organizations:

The @bikeworks206 auction is not like other auctions. pic.twitter.com/UYcbiDdOMd

— Seattle Bike Blog (@seabikeblog) March 23, 2015